The Shocking Level Of Sexual Harassment At Music Festivals

There's nothing quite like a music festival - the live music, the crowds, the mass hysteria.

But unfortunately, there's also a downside - as most of us know, these environments also make for the perfect hunting ground for pervy, handsy men.

However, the actual number of women being violated at music festivals might still shock you. A new survey conducted in the UK has found almost half of women (43%) under 40 have faced unwanted sexual behaviour at a music festival, the BBC reports.

Almost half of women under 40 have been sexually harassed at music festivals. Image: Getty.Source:Whimn

YouGov asked nearly 2000 festival goers and found that 30% of women overall had faced assault or harassment. Perhaps most concerning though, is they found only 1% of women had reported sexual assault or harassment to a member of festival staff either before or after the event - compared to 19% of men.

This fits with similar research done earlier in the year, which found more than 80% of sexual assault victims did not report incidents to police. Those statistics also revealed that one in five women had experiences some form of sexual assault since they turned 16.

So what's going on in Australia?

While we know it happens, there is virtually no research on sexual violence at music festivals here, which makes it difficult to know how we can prevent sexual violence outside of those high-profile cases picked up by the media.

This year's summer music festival season was marred by several well-publicised incidents, including three incidents of sexual assault reported at Falls Festival. In New Zealand, disturbing footage of a man groping a woman at the Rhythm and Vines Festival went viral.

Three women were sexually assaulted at Falls Festival in Tasmania. Image: Matt Thompson.Source:Whimn

Generally speaking though, Australian women aged 18-34 are the most likely to have experienced sexual assault in the past 12 months. Also, 38% of 18 to 24-year-olds, and 25% of 25 to 34-year-olds.

However, several local initiatives have launched to target sexual violence at music festivals here - including Australian Band Camp Cope's It Takes One campaign, to try and raise awareness and improve safety at Aussie gig venues. In 2017, the Your Choice movement also launched to encourage bystanders at music festivals to intervene when they see someone receiving unwanted attention.

Rape or sexual assault: what do I do now?1:29

If you or someone you know, believe that you've been sexually assaulted, raped or harassed, it's hard to know what to do. This video will take you through the next steps.